John R. Houk
© July 14, 2010
Well fans and detractors I went to the hospital with chest pains Saturday afternoon. My better half brought me my laptop companion on Sunday afternoon. I quickly discovered there is no wifi connection in the hospital.
The cardiac doctors have order a cardiac stress test for Monday morning. If I pass, I go home Monday afternoon. If the stress test shows the possibility of coronary blockage they’ll keep another day and do a heart catherization in which they stick a probe through the thigh area of my leg and move a camera up toward my heart taking shooting dye and taking pictures to see the amount of blockage if any that there is. If there is significant blockage the doc widens the artery with a stint and/or performs breaky therapy near the blockage. Breaky therapy is a process in which the blockage is broken up in artery.
The post heart catherization process entails lying absolutely still while the thigh entrance heals. Off the top of my head it seems that lying still takes about five hours. Then I am sent home with further orders not to move around much. After a few days I get the admirable release to remove the bandage from my thigh myself. Experience has shown that can be either rough or easy. I hate rough because that means the bugger is stuck so hard that it rips leg hair out while the bandage is removed. I hate that.
The stress test itself is not a pleasant experience. It is sort of like chemical torture in which a combination of chemicals is injected into to me. After a moment a feeling of violent pain begins to pound in my chest and I’m telling you that dog hurts! The last time I had a chemical stress test there were like four or five attendants in a room just chatting away about personal plans like my consciousness was not even there to listen to them. Then all of a sudden they all got quiet and began to look at me. No pain at this moment however the amount of quiet scrutiny involved something was about to happen. The scary thing was when the pain did not arrived at the moment expected they began to look at each other questioningly. Right after the questioning looks then the pains was delivered. OUCH!
Anyway as of this writing (7/11/10), the only certainty is the cardiac stress test. I’ll update how that went and if they proceed with the heart cath or cut me loose on another day.
Update 7/12/10
Well God is good! There have been upgrades in the chemical stress test. I believe the techs have dubbed this technique the Lexus Stress Test. It is a process of before and after heart photos with the chemicals lighting the way of the photos. There was absolutely no pain as I had experienced in the years past when I went through a stress test that caused incredible chest pain. Thank God for that.
Update 7/12/10 6:50 PM
At about 2:30 PM a cardiologist came in to notify me the stress test was abnormal. This means I get to have a heart cath in the morning. That entails opening a hole in my right thigh then sliding a very thin wire with a camera that moves up my artery toward my heart to take pictures of possible degrees of blockage. If the blockage is closed enough, the doc will place a stint to widen the artery blocked. Then I am transported back to my hospital bed where I have to lay absolutely still for several and spend another night for observation. If the blockage is minimal, then I get to lie still for several hours and I get to go home that day.
Update 7/13/10 9:40 PM
Well it turned out there was no significant blockage in the arteries. But did I get to go home? Nope. The doctor was concerned the pain might have something to do with my gastro-intestinal tract. So now in the morning they are taking to do a surgical procedure in which I am knocked out and stick a camera down my throat to look for anomalies in my esophagus and stomach, such as ulcers. What that means I don’t know. I’ll have to wait and see what I am told afterward.
Update 7/14/10 4:45 PM
The procedure which is called an ECD showed that there no ulcers but that there were minor problems with the esophagus that is easily treated by Medicine. So PRAISE THE LORD! What started out as scary chest pain; could not specifically defined by the doctors’ tests. I believe the prayers of my wife, my wife’s prayer friends and the Ministry of Jim Hockaday (that sent two “volunteer Chaplains to pray for the sick in hospitals) delivered me from the fiery darts of the devil in Jesus’ Name. Hallelujah and Amen!
If anyone wishes to aid in subsidizing the costs of my medical bill that my Disability insurance did not cover (in the thousands of dollars), click on the PayPal Donate button that can be found on the home page of SlantRight.com. Just being strait with you I offer a disclaimer that donations may not go directly to the hospital bills, but to bills that are more expedient for household living for my wife and three grandchildren living with us. NONETHELESS, if donations actually come in with sufficient numbers it will be applied to the hospital and doctors’ bills.
JRH 7/14/10
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